KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 22): Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) international reserves rose to US$116.5 billion as at Nov 15, up 0.34% from US$116.1 billion reported previously on Oct 29.

In a statement on Monday (Nov 22), the central bank said the reserves position is sufficient to finance 8.1 months of retained imports and is 1.2 times total short-term external debt.

Among the five main components of the international reserves, only the foreign currency reserves and other reserve assets saw changes since the last report by the central bank on Oct 29.

Foreign currency reserves declined by 0.48% to US$102.8 billion, down slightly from US$103.3 billion previously, while other reserve assets rose 29.03% to US$4 billion from US$3.1 billion previously.

The central bank reported that the International Monetary Fund reserves position, Special Drawing Rights, and gold had remained unchanged since Oct 29 at US$1.4 billion, US$6.1 billion, and US$2.2 billion, respectively.

Meanwhile, BNM's assets totalled RM543.5 billion as at Nov 15.